Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Ms. Kasumi pushed up her non-existent air glasses:

"Aiyin, please ask a question."

"Why a band? Wouldn't a regular small group be better?"

"Because whether it's Popipa, Roselia, Aftglow, HelloHappy, PasPale... the first group of 25 of us all met through playing bands, and the same reason why we chose to hold the gathering in a livehouse."

"These are all bands I don't recognize... Wait, PasPale, is that the super famous idol band Pastel*Palettes?! They're magical girls too?!" Aine's worldview was shaken.

“That’s right!” Kasumi gave a thumbs up. “However, PasPale and the others are busy with their work, so they rarely appear at gatherings. It’s a bit difficult to see them.”

"Wow...can I be like them too?"

"Then good luck finding teammates who are on the same page." Kasumi winked at her. "If you need any help, come to me. Don't keep any problems to yourself. Being a magical girl is a dangerous job. I took good care of Xiaoxiang when he was a newbie."

"Ahem... Kasumi-senpai." Shoko cleared his throat.

"Oops, I accidentally let it slip~"

"There are some things I'd like to discuss with you privately," Xiangzi finally revealed his main purpose for the day. "I mentioned them to you before I came."

"..."

Kasumi's gaze also turned serious.

"Okay, then Ai-yin, you can wander around by yourself for now."

"If you want to find teammates, go check the notice board." Xiangzi finished the black tea that Xiangcheng had given him, wiped his mouth, and stood up. "The left side is the recruitment board, and the right side is the quest board. Don't get them mixed up."

Xiangzi politely said goodbye to her and then walked away with Xiangcheng.

Ai Yin picked up her black tea and watched the two of them walk downstairs.

eh?

Is the beginner's tutorial gone?

Is this no longer a topic related to me?

She only realized it now, belatedly.

ended?

Huh?

===========

Take the elevator from the first floor to the fourth floor and arrive at RiNG's conference room.

Kasumi closed the door and turned around.

"Alright, Xiao Xiang, it's quiet enough here. How much information do you know about [Nirvana]?"

"...Don't rush, senior."

Xiangzi said.

“Kasumi-senpai, you know that I was in the pine forest that night, and you know that I must have some kind of connection with ‘Nirvana’.”

“I haven’t told anyone about this. The only people who know are you, me, and Chuhua,” Kasumi said.

"I believe in my seniors." Xiangzi nodded and sighed.

In Xiangzi's memory, Kasumi Toyama was an optimistic person who was somewhat eccentric, which Xiangzi found very unreasonable.

Xiangzi didn't know whether Kasumi Toyama's optimistic demeanor was an act or if she genuinely didn't know the truth about magical girls.

She was very grateful to the other party for helping her a lot, but she never dared to let her guard down and reveal everything.

She told Kasumi the name "Nirvana" because she had no other way out.

Last night, Xiangzi saw an intelligence request on the app.

[Intelligence Request]

Witch's Name: Nirvana

Information: Located in the pine forest of the park surrounding CiRCLE.

Mission Rewards: Points and intelligence credits will be awarded based on the importance of the intelligence.

Posted by (public): Roselia - Minato Yukina

A few simple lines of text sent a chill down Xiangzi's spine.

She never told anyone about Nirvana, not a single person. She should be the only one in the world who knows about Nirvana.

However, something significant must have happened during the time she lost her memory, drawing the attention of the Protagonists to the Pine Forest. The two bands that manage the livehouse, Roselia and Popipa, have been secretly investigating for a long time, ever since she woke up at Chu Hua's house.

Kasumi didn't tell anyone about what happened in the pine forest that night, so Popipa had more information than Roselia.

However, the person who posted the message was Roselia, not Popipa, which means they really did find something.

A witch's name is given at birth, and anyone who enters the witch's barrier will know her name. If Roselia knows Nirvana's name, she will at the very least know that the barrier exists.

Xiangzi sought out Xiangcheng today in an attempt to create a chance for himself.

"Kasumi-senpai, can you promise not to tell anyone what I'm about to say?"

"I'll try my best." Kasumi leaned against the door, her head down.

To calm himself down, Xiangzi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again.

"Then I'll start."

The Tale of Nirvana: Keeping Your True Self: Chapter 28 - Minato Yukina

As darkness fell, Xiangzi returned to the real world.

"Are you sure what you're saying is true, Xiaoxiang?" Xiangcheng saw her to the door and looked at her solemnly. "If things are exposed like this, no one can protect you."

"These are all my guesses, but they're probably pretty close to the truth," Xiangzi said.

"That's the last time I'll cover for you. The end of this month is the deadline, after which we'll open up the investigation." Kasumi said.

Kasumi just used her administrator privileges to withdraw Nirvana's intelligence request without notifying Minato Yukina.

“It’s more than enough, thank you, Kasumi-senpai.” Shoko smiled at her.

"It would be better if you came to RiNG less often in the future, both for yourself and for others." But Kasumi, unusually, did not respond with a smile, her face remaining serious.

"I understand..." Xiangzi nodded.

Turn around and leave.

Kasumi stood at the shop entrance, watching Shoko's figure slowly walk away.

Watching her get obscured by hurried passersby, watching her completely disappear into the crowd.

"Kasumi."

Someone poked my cheek.

Kasumi then came to her senses.

The person who poked her was Popipa's teammate, Tae Hanazono, one of the founders of the [Reed Plain Magical Girl Gathering] and a Protagonist.

Also Xiang Er O弍（二？）?意san?二.Cheng's best friend.

"Tae-hye? What are you doing out here?"

"Xiao Lixi is here to replace me in class."

"Oh......"

"Why are you looking so gloomy? This isn't like you." Tae looked at Kasumi with her emerald green eyes.

It's as if it's saying, don't keep things bottled up inside.

"Maybe I'm worrying too much." Kasumi glanced in the direction where Shoko had disappeared.

"worry about what?"

"It's nothing, just some personal matters."

She promised Xiangzi that it would be done by the end of the month, and that meant it would be done by the end of the month, not a day more, not a day less.

Kasumi turned and walked back to RiNG.

Tae's eyes reflected Kasumi's back, which hadn't changed at all compared to a few years ago.

The magical girls' physical growth was frozen on the day they became magical girls. Although Tae and Kasumi still look like they are fifteen or sixteen years old, it has actually been a long time since that day. Even the youngest one, Udagawa Ako, has gone to university.

Everyone is slowly growing up and becoming an adult.

Many things are different from before. Popipa was originally a band formed just to have fun making music, but now they have become the managers of the Magical Girl Gathering, supporting half of the world in the Reed Plains, and also having to worry about the band's debut.

They all have things they don't want to do but have to do; simply playing guitar is a thing of the past.

Magical girl, witch, managing gatherings, album recording, performance scheduling, running a livehouse, dealing with enthusiastic fans... all the things in the real world and the outside world are always piled up in front of them.

Pastel*Palettes and RAISE A SUILEN are the two busiest bands, often touring across the country and even abroad, while helping local magical girls fight witches along the way.

Hello, Happy World is backed by the Tsurumaki Zaibatsu. It's a band run by rich young ladies who do whatever they want. They're practically a bug in this world.

Aftglow stayed in the shopping district where they were born and raised, running Galaxy, a place that combines magical girl gatherings and livehouses, to help more lost girls live as long as possible.

Although Roselia is a professional band, their shift to a studio format has given them time to run CiRCLE...

Morfonica went from being a high school band to a college band. They have a clear self-positioning and do not intend to pursue a professional career.

Popin' Party, however, still hasn't found its own path.

She took over the management of the new RiNG store, but couldn't let go of her original musical pursuits. She wanted to hold more live performances, take a further step towards professionalization, want the magical girls of Ashihara to live longer, and want the Magical Girl Gathering, an organization that everyone worked so hard to build, to continue for a long time...

Popipa has so many things she wants to do.

Their spiritual leader, Kasumi Toyama, is someone who strives to do everything and wants everything to have a perfect ending.

"By the way, Kasumi."

Duohui took out a pack of women's cigarettes, put it in her mouth, snapped her fingers, lit the cigarette with the flame from her fingertip, and watched people come and go on the Livehouse street.

"Ok?"

"So you were hiding something from us, weren't you?" Tae exhaled a wisp of smoke.

RiNG is a no-smoking area; she only came out to smoke.

"As expected of Tae, you can never hide anything from me." Kasumi chuckled and scratched her head. "But sorry, I'm not going to tell you."

"So I won't ask any more questions." Tae said, a cigarette dangling from her lips. "Everyone's used to your crazy Random Star stuff."

"Normally, it would be Arisa who says this, the last half of the sentence."

“I spoke on behalf of Arisa.”

"..."

"Is it related to the intelligence request that Yukina issued yesterday?"

"...I'll tell you later this month, so please, don't ask me what happened before the end of the month."

"Yeah, I won't ask. After all, you're Kasumi."

"Hey, Duohui is still the best~"

Kasumi snuggled up to Tae and rubbed against her.

"Ah, cigarette ash."

"It's okay, it's okay."

"Emmm... there's one more thing I almost forgot."

Tae freed one hand from Kasumi's embrace, stubbed out the cigarette with her fingers, and precisely tossed it into the ashtray of a street trash can.

"Yuki came by while you were in the conference room, but left quickly. I don't know if she had something to say to you."

Kasumi's smiling expression froze instantly.

===============

As Xiangzi walked toward the tram station, he counted on his fingers how much time he had left.

“It’s early May now, and it will be exactly four weeks until the end of May. Four weeks.” She breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m a little nervous.”